Rating: 
Summary: Disparate
Review: "Disparate" is really the only word one could use to describe Tomine's writing style. His depictions of the inner pains that many of us know, especially from our late teens and early twenties, are almost painful to read with all of the insecurities that they bring flooding back. This angst ridden collection of stories is the collected works of his first eight editions of the comic book "Optic Nerve" which Tomine produces yearly. Sleepwalker is an excellent introduction to his work, where as his other trade paper back "32 stories" is a collection of his earliest work and while some of the stories are very amusing, it's also very raw, and out of the normal vein of work Tomine is known for.
Rating:
Summary: Disparate
Review: "Disparate" is really the only word one could use to describe Tomine's writing style. His depictions of the inner pains that many of us know, especially from our late teens and early twenties, are almost painful to read with all of the insecurities that they bring flooding back. This angst ridden collection of stories is the collected works of his first eight editions of the comic book "Optic Nerve" which Tomine produces yearly. Sleepwalker is an excellent introduction to his work, where as his other trade paper back "32 stories" is a collection of his earliest work and while some of the stories are very amusing, it's also very raw, and out of the normal vein of work Tomine is known for.
Rating:
Summary: Some of the best work in comics today
Review: Adrian Tomine is a comic art minimalist. Despensing of unnecessary elements like thought balloons, he relies entirely on dialogue and visuals. His style is spare, unlike many of his more mainstream peers, and his narratives are far removed from the spandex exploits of Superman or Batman. All of Tomine's characters are flawed human beings, ... Following these stories may make one feel somewhat despairing, but a vague sense of hope lingers as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Black and white was never so colorful
Review: Black and white drawings, mature cartoons, short snippets of people's lives?....are you sure this is literature???
YES! Don't let people tell you this isn't literature. It's a perfect example of how graphic art and comics can still be literature. I was ushered into all of this on the superhero wave (and I still read superhero comics), and when I discovered artists like Tomine and Clowes, I was amazed.
The stories are very realistic and told in short story fashion. It's not a graphic novel, and it isn't exactly a collection of comic strips.
I would recommend this to someone who is well read. Check out "Pink Frosting."
Rating:
Summary: Tomine is the literal visual counterpart to Raymond Carver
Review: Okay, I'm bias. I have a crush on the man but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy Adrian's work. He brings about bittersweet narratives that are not unlike Carver's own. 'Sleepwalk' contains his more heavy-hearted work and '32 stories' carries his more cynically humorous self published endeavors with Optic Nerve. I highly reccomend both.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice, but...
Review: Sleepwalk is a compilation of stories that deal with the disturbing reality of human existence. Adrian Tomine has a gift for articulating, through his artwork and writing, the everyday experience of life, whether it is losing a loved one, hanging on to a relationship you know won't last, dealing with other people's selfishness and your own, or finding out who your real friends are. The story "Lunch Break" brought me to tears. It was powerful...
Rating:
Summary: I Love Adrian Tomine's Work
Review: Sleepwalk is a compilation of stories that deal with the disturbing reality of human existence. Adrian Tomine has a gift for articulating, through his artwork and writing, the everyday experience of life, whether it is losing a loved one, hanging on to a relationship you know won't last, dealing with other people's selfishness and your own, or finding out who your real friends are. The story "Lunch Break" brought me to tears. It was powerful...
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly Heartbreaking
Review: The sixteen stories contained here are predominantly quiet angst-ridden portraits of young men and women who are experiencing some kind of loss. Several lurk in the disorienting and heartbreaking wake of breakups. "Six Day Cold" is perhaps the most touching of these, showing a young man with a severe cold encountering his ex-girlfriend on the street. She takes care of him, bringing him soup and whatnot-and the way Tomine captures the unseen wistful looks he gives her is shattering. It's an awkward emotional terrain he captures with equal precision in the title story. Indeed, awkward situations are Tomine's forte, from threatening teenagers on a bus in "Hostage Situation," to a family vacation in "Dylan & Donovan" to the realization of shifting friendships in "Hazel Eyes" or a supermarket worker encountering a blind customer out on the street in "Supermarket." Tomine's ability to rapidly capture the exact right emotional tone of each situation and character is amazing. The longest story, "Summer Job" is pitch-perfect in showing a slacker-punk middle class kid on summer vacation from UC Berkeley (A Berkeley resident, Tomine sets many of his stories in and around Bay Area.). The kid's arrogant disdain for the Kinko's-like job he takes and his complete obliviousness to the economic realities of his co-workers is dead on and enraging. Another common theme is loneliness, from the difficulty in long-distance relationships in "Long Distance" and "Layover" to an old widow remembering better days in "Lunch Break" or the creepy tale of a young woman who's stalked via the personal ads in "The Connecting Thread." Thus, it should come as no surprise that on the whole, the collection can be rather depressing (apparently Tomine's other collection, 32 Stories, is more upbeat). Of course it should be noted that the artistry is consistently graceful and real over the 102 pages, and the book's design and production is lovely and understated. This is the graphic novel to give people who would never consider picking one up.
Rating: 
Summary: Still in the Pupal Stage...
Review: These earlier, shorter stories are rather flat, and don't stand up to Tomine's later work, collected in "Summer Blonde." Tomine works best when he has the time and space allotted to really build his characters, and the short stories herein do not allow for it. As simply a portrait of a developing young artist, "Sleepwalk and Other Stories" is somewhat interesting, but certainly not a fully realized or especially enjoyable book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Piece of Work
Review: This is perhaps one of the best comic books or books period ever written. It is a statement of how common life can be interesting, because we can all relate to it. The anonymous reader who initially reviewed this obviously has either not read the aforementioned work or was too dense to understand it's deeper implications. It is unfortunate that in the comics world stories like this don't receive as much attention as "superhero" comics. For a vastly underaprecciated and misunderstood medium, this is a statement of what comics can be.
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